AP: Obama disconnected from reality on jobs bill

posted at 2:45 pm on October 10, 2011 by Ed Morrissey

Last week, the Associated Press’ fact checkof a speech implied that Barack Obama might be losing touch with reality. Today, they make the argument more explicit in reporting on Obama’s push on his new jobs bill. Their headline reads “Obama’s jobs bill sales pitch disconnects rhetoric, reality,” and they take him to task for it (via Rob Port):

When Obama accuses Republicans of standing in the way of his nearly $450 billion plan, he ignores the fact that his own party has struggled to unite behind the proposal.

When the president says Republicans haven’t explained what they oppose in the plan, he skips over the fact that Republicans who control the House actually have done that in detail.

And when he calls on Congress to “pass this bill now,” he slides past the point that Democrats control the Senate and were never prepared to move immediately, given other priorities. Senators are expected to vote Tuesday on opening debate on the bill, a month after the president unveiled it with a call for its immediate passage.

The AP concludes that Obama is campaigning, not governing, which has become painfully obvious ever since his speech to a joint session of Congress a month ago. The bill itself contains a number of poison pills that even his own party rejected in 2009, when Democrats had full control of Washington. In fact, Senate Democrats have had to change the rules to keep Obama’s bill from getting a vote at all, not because Republicans oppose it but because a number of Democrats oppose it as well, at least in the form Obama has been pushing the last four weeks.

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Thursday said President Barack Obama has “given up on the country” to focus on his re-election rather than working with Republicans to boost the economy.

“Mr. President, why have you given up on the country and decided to campaign full time instead of doing what the American people sent us all here to do?” Boehner said. “And that’s to find common ground to deal with the big challenges that face our economy and our country.”

As Obama held a news conference in the White House a few blocks away, Boehner said the Democratic president had shown no leadership by holding rallies around the country to promote his $447 billion jobs bill rather than negotiating with Republicans to pass legislation that would bring down the 9.1 percent unemployment rate.

The plan itself broke no new ground. Indeed, it closely resembles the 2009 stimulus bill, with its mix of infrastructure spending, temporary tax breaks, and another round of bailouts for states. But if the rehashed jobs plan was a passive disappointment, Obama’s new deficit reduction plan is an aggressive partisan attack — the very kind that Obama blasted in his joint-session speech earlier in the month. Obama warned his political opponents that voters wouldn’t wait for an election 14 months away to deliver solutions, and that Democrats and Republicans had to work together now to solve the big problems facing the nation:

“Already, we’re seeing the same old press releases and tweets flying back and forth. Already, the media has proclaimed that it’s impossible to bridge our differences. And maybe some of you have decided that those differences are so great that we can only resolve them at the ballot box. But know this: The next election is 14 months away. And the people who sent us here — the people who hired us to work for them — they don’t have the luxury of waiting 14 months. ” …

Obama mailed in both proposals rather than engage in the hard work of governance. If Obama had any interest in actually passing his deficit-reduction plan, he would not have filled it with tax hikes that have floated around the Beltway for years — and which both Republicans and Democrats have rejected in the past. The jobs bill was even less creative than his approach to deficit reduction, cribbed from a failed and costly exercise in central economic control. Obama didn’t bother to put much effort into either because he has no intention of doing the hard work needed to accomplish actual deficit reduction or improve the job-creation climate. The president has more than a year to go before the next election, but Obama has stopped governing and has shifted entirely to campaign mode. This is what it looks like when a president quits.

That’s now the AP’s conclusion as well:

He is waging a campaign, one in which nuance and context and competing responses don’t always fit in if they don’t help make the case. …

John Sides, political science professor at George Washington University, said Obama’s approach on the jobs bill is “more about campaigning than governing.”

“He’s mostly just going around talking about this and drawing contrasts with what the Republicans want and what he wants and not really trying to work these legislative levers he might be able to use to get this passed,” Sides said. “That just suggests to me that he is ready to use a failed jobs bill as a campaign message against the Republicans.”

Obama doesn’t want to get anything accomplished except win another election. He had 14 months to work with Republicans before the next election; heck, he had 34 months to work with Republicans before that speech. Instead of trying for a compromise on the basis of comprehensive tax-code reform, which both parties would like to accomplish, Obama decided to declare war on capital instead and provoke demonstrations in the streets. It’s a petulant and impotent response to the utter failure of his economic policies, and the OccupyWallStreet protests won’t be enough to distract people from that reality — even if Obama can’t face it himself.

Blowback

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The president has more than a year to go before the next election, but Obama has stopped governing and has shifted entirely to campaign mode. This is what it looks like when a president quits.

Anyone else get a cold chill through them when reading this?

Not that I want PBHO to do any more “work”, basically because we always get screwed when he does, but more the notion that he has pretty much checked out of the job. If America gets hit again, or if one of our allies get hit, PBHO is going to freeze.

IMO, bho IS disconnected from reality big time. bho has NOT a clue about anything he talks about and it sure isn’t getting any better by the day. Thank goodness for the long week-end and today a holiday, bho’s face has hardly been on the tube! Look out come tomorrow, isn’t the ‘bus tour’ to get into full swing soon for his jobs bill? Spend that taxpayers money bho while you can, come election 2012, your piggy bank is shut off!
L

that’s the rub. He built a crap sandwich that not even his own party will take a bite of and then proceeds to demagogue his natural opponents for not taking a bite of it themselves. It is utterly incoherent and illuminates the lack of agility that the president has with regards to political maneuvering. He has utterly reached the limits of demagoguery.

You forgot to mention the distinct possibility that this man could be mentally ill. (Yeah, I know, that comment makes ma a raaaaacist.)

simkeith on October 10, 2011 at 2:59 PM

Well, the NY Slimes are the ones hinting that he may be suffering from clinical depression…

Personally, I’d go with “narcissistic personality disorder” instead.

Pathological narcissism can develop from an impairment in the quality of the person’s relationship with their primary caregivers, usually their parents, in that the parents were unable to form a healthy and empathic attachment to them. This results in the child’s perception of himself/herself as unimportant and unconnected to others. The child typically comes to believe they have some personality defect that makes them unvalued and unwanted.

Not that I want PBHO to do any more “work”, basically because we always get screwed when he does, but more the notion that he has pretty much checked out of the job. If America gets hit again, or if one of our allies get hit, PBHO is going to freeze.

Bishop on October 10, 2011 at 2:53 PM

I’ve had that chill since this summer.

Once he comes to the realization his presidency is over, he will be free to do whatever he can get away with at the executive level. Carter only went so far as to end US control of the Panama Canal early. IIRC, Guantanamo is under a lease by treaty. Obama can end that lease and call it a fiscal necessity. And that is about the least scary thing he can do.

*** Remember – Hillary said she woudl never “run” – but hand picked to receive the Dem nod is another thing.

Plus – big payback for the Dem establishment backing the 1 trick stoney back in 2007/2008. Billions of Dem investments, tax write offs and projects are being halted… HIll and Bill are the Money Honeys who will come to the Dem rescue!!!

“He’s mostly just going around talking about this and drawing contrasts with what the Republicans want and what he wants and not really trying to work these legislative levers he might be able to use to get this passed,” Sides said.

He can’t pull a lever that he can’t locate. Barry spent something like an hour and a half total doing actual work as a Senator, and he doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to legislative lever use (as if he even cares). He only wants to keep the job because otherwise, he’ll have to cut WAY back on the golf and wagyu beef, which are kind of pricey when one has to come out of ones own pocket for them.

He needs a crisis,..a big crisis, a really, really, big crisis. Something that could turn the tide, pull us all together under his protective wing, till the crisis is past. Something that would require his full attention, and not allow time/energy for campaigning for an election, which could be untimely and disruptive to his leadership efforts during a crucial time, anyway.
Sometimes there just is no time for political nonsense when a leader needs to concentrate on saving a country. To this end, military enforced curfews, gun confiscation, temporary suspension of elections, travel limitations, etc. are considered helpful. Remember, shared sacrifice is important.

Attn. Dem voters: howabout next time around you try judging a person on the content of their character? Electing Barack Obama based on the color of his skin, which is what you did (own it), hasn’t worked out so well, has it? He’s not only a hard-Left statist, he’s an incompetent one at that.

Unfortunately judging, classifying and grouping people together based on skin color, gender, religion, etc. is at the core of the Modern Liberal ideology.

Ever wonder why all of the ethnocentric separatist/front groups, Grievance Industry types, and racialist hacks are all Big Government types?

Remember all those nay-sayers looking down on us who wisely chose to stock-up?

I’ll bet you they’ve changed their tune since the Drum-circles started rumbling with the ‘Kill the Rich’ message.

As they say: Hope for the best, but Prepare for the worst.

Chip on October 10, 2011 at 3:15 PM

While one group kept the shelves empty in the sporting goods section of Walmart there was another group that stocked up on drums, bongos and medicinal plants. The latter also stocked up on signs that read “The Rich Must Pay, or Die” and “Behead the Bankers” and “Share, or Else”.

When the ‘drummers’ finally force a confrontation with the ‘shoppers’ things should be really, really interesting.

Not that I want PBHO to do any more “work”, basically because we always get screwed when he does, but more the notion that he has pretty much checked out of the job. If America gets hit again, or if one of our allies get hit, PBHO is going to freeze.

Bishop on October 10, 2011 at 2:53 PM

That’s what scares me so badly. He’s so divorced from reality I’ve gotta believe some very prominent folks are begging him to step down “for the good of the country.” As looney as the far left is, I refuse to believe that ALL of the democrats want this country to fail on their watch.

At the presser last week he seemed both angry and weary, he couldn’t hide either. Fast & Furious and Solyndra aren’t going away. Jobs? How many SAM’s are missing from Libya? Good thing he helped oust Khadaffy.

I mean, a man with character would be hard pressed under such a load, but Obooba is “without any sand or character. Not even any bad character,” –Little Bill Daggett.

Someone oughta start slipping him some Valium in his waffles or he could indeed snap. I don’t want a snapped president.

While one group kept the shelves empty in the sporting goods section of Walmart there was another group that stocked up on drums, bongos and medicinal plants. The latter also stocked up on signs that read “The Rich Must Pay, or Die” and “Behead the Bankers” and “Share, or Else”.

When the ‘drummers’ finally force a confrontation with the ‘shoppers’ things should be really, really interesting.

Yoop on October 10, 2011 at 3:46 PM

There is that saying:

May you live in interesting times.

I would rather it not get too interesting, but it’s always a good idea to be ready.

Just as it’s better to have a fire extinguisher at hand if a fire breaks out, It’s also a good idea to have gun at hand if a thug breaks in.

Obama is phoning it in. He views his job as an “organizer” (agitator) and constant campaigner. He needs the adulation of his true believers to energize himself.

No executive of consequence quits the workday at 4:00pm. Achievers work long hours and weekends. They take very few vacations, if they take any at all. They certainly do not party as hard as Obama does.

He needs a crisis,..a big crisis, a really, really, big crisis. Something that could turn the tide, pull us all together under his protective wing, till the crisis is past. Something that would require his full attention, and not allow time/energy for campaigning for an election, which could be untimely and disruptive to his leadership efforts during a crucial time, anyway.
Sometimes there just is no time for political nonsense when a leader needs to concentrate on saving a country. To this end, military enforced curfews, gun confiscation, temporary suspension of elections, travel limitations, etc. are considered helpful. Remember, shared sacrifice is important.

The president has more than a year to go before the next election, but Obama has stopped governing and has shifted entirely to campaign mode. This is what it looks like when a president quits.

Anyone else get a cold chill through them when reading this?

Not that I want PBHO to do any more “work”, basically because we always get screwed when he does, but more the notion that he has pretty much checked out of the job. If America gets hit again, or if one of our allies get hit, PBHO is going to freeze.

Bishop on October 10, 2011 at 2:53 PM

He never left campaign mode. He has never governed. He phoned it in to Congress when Pelosi was in charge. All he wants to do now is create an excuse to fly Air Force 1 to some distant place, give a meaningless speech so he had an excuse for the taxpayers to pick up the tab for the trip, then go to a fundraiser on his way back to the plane, charge $35,000 to anyone who walks through the doors, then call it a day. He flies back to DC and